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The Complete Novice’s Guide to Your First Handgun
The first handgun purchase is usually a daunting decision, because there’s a lot of technicality mixed in with personal preferences of the individual giving the advice. This is my attempt to simplify it down a bit and focus on the most important things.
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The Complete Guide to Your Iron Sight Zero
Most articles walk you through the basic steps of getting your iron sights zeroed, but they lack an explanation of why you’re doing the steps you’re doing. Let’s change that.
Field Guide to Buying Your First AR-15
The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in the country. This guide discusses a good first rifle configuration, and provides some technical info to back it up.
The AR-15 Barrel Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need to Know
This post summarizes just about everything I’ve learned about rifle barrels in general, and specifically AR-15 Barrels.
It’s fair to say that the barrel is the heart of the gun, and the most important choice to make when configuring a rifle. There are a lot of considerations and tradeoffs to make when deciding on the “right” one for you, so let’s dig in.
A Competition 22 Rifle for Everyday Precision Shooters
It’s no secret that I’ve been assembling a 22 target rifle suitable for competition and training use. I’ve been posting articles debating the merits of a competition 22 rifle as a stand-in for larger centerfire rifles when it comes to long-distance training and practice. Well, it’s now time to throw back the curtain on what I’ve built.
The Recce Rifle: Builder’s Guide to Modern Classic
The original SEAL Recce Rifle was an in-house modification to M4 carbines. The history goes back to the early 1990s. Since they were so individualized, there really wasn’t a spec, but there is an accepted pattern to follow.
The Battle Belt: 3 Essential Tips for Carrying Gear Like a Boss
The battle belt is a sort of modern iteration of the classic ALICE gear that served the US military from the 70s through late 90s. But there are some significant differences, particularly in the type and amount of load that the belt handles.
HI, I’M MATT.
I’m the founder of The Everyday Marksman.
I’ve always been an outdoors fanatic and avid shooting enthusiast. As a former military officer and master instructor, I want to bring a different perspective to the firearms and outdoors communities. It’s not just about high-speed shooting and tactics, but the sum of your ability.
I created The Everyday Marksman to teach tactical skills to everyday people seeking a more adventurous life.
Want to learn more about me? Read This →
-Matt, The Marksman
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How to Use Math to Master Your Physical Strength
I’m nerding a bit today. After many months, if not years, of reading various exercise programs and following many of them, I started to notice several similarities between them. I thought there must be some kind of forbidden knowledge that a non-trainer like me must be missing about how how these experts were selecting the given weights, sets, and repetitions. Then I stumbled onto the work of some Cold War-era Soviet researchers and it put it all together for me.
So now I’m going to share what I’ve learned about the math, and how to use it for your own strength program.
The Paper Plate Pistolero Challenge
I’m reposting this challenge with a few updates. In light of recent events, I think it’s an important reminder that you should regularly train with your handgun out to 50 yards. Most people are content with 7-10 yards because it’s fun, “go-fast,” and the close range often hides errors in marksmanship fundamentals. At 50 yards, though, it becomes a different proposition and you never know when you just might need to take that shot.
Developing a Flexible Team Communications Setup
I spent a good part of 2021 trying to figure out a way to better integrate communications into my equipment without breaking the bank. While I’m all for spending money on quality gear, I’m not above considering the return on investment, and I’ve not felt like $1000 communications headsets were worth it for me. Then, one random day, I realized that I had almost everything I needed already, minus one important affordable part.
Marksman Live: The Prism Optics Primer with Ilya Koshkin
This week I sat down again with Ilya, the Dark Lord of Optics, to answer some lingering questions I’ve got about prism optics. I wanted to understand how they work relative to traditional rifle scopes, and some of the tradeoffs required when designing them. During the conversation, we also wandered over how rifle scopes work in general, reticle color selection, durability, engineering tradeoffs, and more. I’m also posting the audio-only version of this as well.
Are Prism Scopes Due for a Big Comeback?
I’m making a casual bet that the market for compact prism optics is going to heat up soon. Low power variable optics (LPVO) have been king for the last several years, of course, but I’m noticing some trends and techniques that I think will lead us in a different direction.
Thank you for coming by The Everyday Marksman. This site and its community are a labor of love. I hope you stick around for a while, and maybe even join us.
-Matt
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